What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity is a term that describes the variety of species living in the world on several levels. Biodiversity refers not only to current species diversity, but also genetic, habitat, ecosystem and phylogenetic (how species are related through evolution) diversity, developed over 4.5 billion years of earth’s existence.
Rich diversity within and among earth’s species, from microbial to mammalian, primordial to modern, creates the conditions for life to exist on our planet. Biodiversity is so vast and undefined, we are not fully aware of its innumerable intricacies, parameters and potential. What we know is that the infinite biodiversity of our planet is what provides breathable air, potable water, pathogen-resistant food supplies, raw materials for our clothing, shelter and medicine, and many psychological benefits. Biodiversity is also a protective barrier between humans and animal-borne infectious diseases, which are quickly increasing. Despite the vastness of our planet’s biodiversity, it is also vulnerable to human impacts, which are reducing species diversity at alarming speed, resulting in multiple vulnerabilities.
Why does this matter? Why is biodiversity loss so bad?
Take away our rich biodiversity, and we remove earth’s ability to sustain life. We need a minimum amount of biodiversity to survive. At the current rate, 30% of all species will be extinct by 2050, according to alarming Wikipedia estimates.
Reduced biodiversity at this rate translates to a future in which our food and water are increasingly vulnerable to disease, pests and drought, and ecosystems planetwide face collapse. Researchers do not know the threshold of species loss at which human life becomes unsustainable. It may be 20%, or lower or higher. We seek to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss now rather than waiting to test the limit of human life sustainability.
Why cities? Don’t we need biodiversity everywhere?
Yes, we need to restore biodiversity everywhere, at all levels. For that to happen, we need to increase awareness and resources. We focus on cities not because they are the best places to stop biodiversity loss, but because they are the best places to dramatically increase public support for biodiversity funding.
Most people around the globe live in cities. By winning the hearts and minds of our state’s residents and students living in both cities and towns, we are creating a future generation of caretakers committed to sustaining all life on earth with long-term public funding.
Here are more details on our choice to focus on cities. [link: why cities?]
What is an Environmental Justice community?
An Environmental Justice community is a designated region of a town or city comprising residents who experience one or an intersectionality of disadvantages based on identifying factors such as income, race, language and other characteristics.
EJ communities are defined by a collective household income of 65% or less of statewide annual median income and a concentration of 40% or more minority populations; but other interacting discriminatory identities may also combine to render some neighborhoods very underserved. Residents of many EJ communities lack access to green space and, in some cases, education and awareness of the importance of funding and support for biodiversity. Residents of such communities are more exposed to, and suffer at higher rates from, pollution-borne maladies, higher temperatures due to heat entrapment and lack of shade, poorer air quality, a dearth of healthy food options, depressed economies and other disadvantages stemming from unfavorable environmental conditions. There are dozens of EJ communities across Massachusetts.
What would happen if we continued the path we’re on?
The consequences of allowing our cities and other areas to continue losing biodiversity could be dire. Most environmental scientists agree we are currently amid an extinction event, called the Holocene extinction, or sometimes the “sixth extinction,” in which we have lost more biodiversity than at any other time in human history. This period has an undetermined beginning but has increased in correlation with human industrialization and dominion. It is marked by very rapid extinctions of animal and plant species across all regions of the earth over a relatively short period of time in comparison to past extinction events.
Most researchers also agree that our deteriorating species diversity is largely due to human activity. A 2019 United Nations study estimated that some 1 million species are at risk of extinction by 2100 if we continue our current trend.
Because global human migration is converging on cities everywhere, these urban centers must become key components in biodiversity restoration. Without efforts to build cities into biodiversity contributors, through initiatives like MUC projects and others, we will continue to lose our species diversity worldwide. As extinction of species progresses, a range of ecosystems will wither; some will collapse due to lack of food, water and other life-sustaining resources. Eventually, within decades along this downward path, all ecosystems, including the vast natural network that sustains human life, will be endangered.
What can I do to help restore biodiversity?
We are glad you asked! We all have a stake in rebuilding and protecting biodiversity. There are many ways you can contribute to the effort. One way is to join our cause by donating and/or volunteering to work with MUC [link volunteer/donate]. There are also many other nature conservancies doing great work to restore and create biodiversity, and they frequently need volunteers and support.
At your own residence, you can contribute to biodiversity by:
• planting and cultivating native plants that attract pollinators;
• replacing your grass lawn with a no-mow garden;
• skipping mowing your lawn altogether in early spring and letting grass grow, to allow pollinator habitats to develop;
• cutting back on running gas-powered machinery like lawnmowers and leaf blowers;
• installing and tending a vegetable and flower garden with native plants;
• planting more trees (always!); and
• turning your deck or flat roof into a garden.
Isn’t this something the government should be handling?
Yes, and the Massachusetts state government operates several programs supporting biodiversity growth. But government programs are “top-down” in design, implemented as policy and sometimes slow to take or have effect.
At MUC, we aim to work in parallel with state efforts by creating a growing series of “bottom-up” support, with participation in, and education around, biodiversity initiatives. We want to work with people at ground level – residents, students, teachers, parents, landowners, housing providers, municipal and county governments – to dig in the muck and create biodiverse ecosystems that will invite and restore species populations right where we live. Whoever has a stake in a healthy environment – everyone, right? – can assist MUC in our biodiversity building efforts.
Don’t bees sting people? What about people allergic to bees?
Bees are important pollinators that play an outsized role in the health of our plants. But biodiversity is so much more than just bees. Butterflies, bats and other creatures, including birds that eat bees, also participate in pollination. At MUC, we are sensitive to bee allergies, and we don’t install beehives or bee homes. Bees that visit MUC gardens and other green spaces will only be there organically, to collect food or water. Bees that live in MUC Miyawaki restorations are not on the same lot as a residual structure. MUC doesn’t install pollinator gardens where residents and property owners are not all in agreement.